Identifiers (“IDs”) may be used in various types of systems, networks, and/or other devices (“systems”) to identify entities and/or resources used, consumed, and/or provided by the systems. The use of IDs to identify entities can be a valuable tool for simplifying data operations. For example, systems can assign IDs of a consistent format, size, and/or type to various unrelated entities that otherwise may be described in varied formats, lengths, and/or types of labels, and/or may have identical or overlapping labels or other identifying information. Thus, systems can use IDs to simplify identification of resources and/or other entities.
Typically, systems that make use of IDs generate IDs using logic, and store the IDs and/or the logic for generating the IDs in a dedicated database. As IDs are needed, the system generates a new ID, typically incrementing a previously created or used ID. The IDs may be incremented by one or more digits or other alphanumeric characters, or otherwise may be generated based upon the logic associated with the system. According to various implementations, the logic associated with the systems may define how the IDs are created, for example, by basing a new ID upon an incremental change to a previously created or used ID, as well as other aspects of the IDs such as length of the IDs, format of the IDs, a type for the IDs, and/or other information defining the IDs.
In order for IDs to be useful to the system, the IDs typically are required to be unique with respect to one another and/or with respect to IDs generated by other systems with which the system interacts. Enforcing uniqueness across varied platforms and/or systems can be challenging, as varied platforms and/or systems may coincidentally select similar or identical ID generation schemes that allow or even unintentionally encourage ID collisions. As systems merge, communicate, interact, and/or rely upon one another, the need for unique IDs can become more pronounced.
Furthermore, as many traditional networking systems are migrated to virtually hosted networking systems and/or networks, various systems and/or their respective databases for ID generation may be hosted by the same or closely related virtual resources. Thus, one or more virtual machines may be tasked with hosting two or more systems and their respective two or more ID databases to support various operations including, but not limited to, ID generation and management. This redundancy can increase costs associated with virtual hosting services.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.